"And now, my boy, lucky was it for me that my experience at Cotopaxi
and Popocatepetl had been so thorough and so peculiar. My knowledge
came into play at this time. I took my felt hat and put it over my
mouth, and then tied it around my neck so that the felt rim came over
my cheeks and throat. Thus I secured a plentiful supply of air, and
the felt acted as a kind of ventilator to prevent the access to my
lungs of too much of the sulphurous vapor. Of course such a
contrivance would not be good for more than five minutes; but then,
you know, five minutes were all that I wanted.
"So up I rushed, and, as the slope was only about a hundred feet, I
soon reached the top. Here I could see nothing whatever. The
tremendous smoke-clouds rolled all about on every side, enveloping me
in their dense folds, and shutting every thing from view. I heard the
cry of the asses of guides, who were howling where I left them below,
and were crying to me to come back--the infernal idiots! The smoke was
impenetrable; so I got down on my hands and knees and groped about. I
was on her track, and knew she could not be far away. I could not
spend more than five minutes there, for my felt hat would not assist
me any longer. About two minutes had already passed. Another minute
was taken up in creeping about on my hands and knees. A half minute
more followed. I was in despair. The child-angel I saw must have run
in much further than I had supposed, and perhaps I could not find her
at all.
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